Primary Assessments

Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and 2

Parents and carers have a duty to support the education of the children in their care and should ensure 100% attendance. Every school has a designated teacher for CiC and this will be the person to liaise with.

Children attending primary school will start in reception and move in to key stage 1 (years 1 and 2, when pupils are aged between 5 and 7) and then key stage 2 (years 3 and 4, when pupils are aged between 7 and 11).

Tests and assessments

Reception Baseline:

A "reception baseline check" refers to a standardized assessment given to children when they start Reception class in primary school (typically around age 4), designed to capture a snapshot of their early literacy, numeracy, communication, and language skills at the beginning of their formal education, providing a starting point to measure their progress throughout their primary school years; it's also known as the "Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)". 

Key points about the reception baseline check:

• Purpose - To establish a baseline of each child's abilities to track their progress and identify areas for development throughout their primary education. 
• Assessment format - Usually involves interactive activities and tasks that assess various areas like communication, language comprehension, early literacy skills, and basic math concepts. 
• Administration - Carried out by the child's teacher within the first few weeks of starting Reception class. 
• Not a test - Emphasized as an "age-appropriate assessment" focusing on observation and interaction rather than traditional testing methods. 

Year 1 - Phonics Screening Check

The check takes place in June and each child will read 40 words out loud to a teacher.  Within the 40 words there will be a mix of real words and pseudo (nonsense) words - 20 of each. 

For a child to pass their phonics screening test they must score at or above the threshold mark - which was set at 32 for 2018.  Therefore any child scoring 32 or more passed the phonics screening check.

Any child that does not pass the check in Year 1 is retested in Year 2.

The check will take place in June when children will be expected to read 40 words out loud to a teacher. If the baseline is not achieved then this is repeated again in year 2.

Key stage 1 SATs

Key stage 1 tests cover:

At the end of Year 2, children will sit SATs tests for:

• Reading
• Maths
• Grammar, punctuation and spelling (optional)

Results are given as a scaled score ranging from 85 to 115.

• Score of 99 or below means a child may need more support to help them to reach the expected standard
• Score of 100 means the child is working at the expected standard
• Score above 100 means the child is working above the expected standard

School will provide parents and carers with a report with teacher assessments in:

Year 4 Multiplication Check:

The Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) is a test that assesses whether year 4 pupils in England can recall their times tables up to 12 x 12. The test is designed to help schools identify pupils who need extra support. 

What's in the test?

• The test should take less than 5 minutes to complete 
• The test consists of 25 questions on times tables from 2 to 12 
• Pupils have 6 seconds to answer each question 
• There is a 3 second rest between each question 

When is the test?

• The test is usually administered in June 
• In 2025, the test will be administered between Monday 2 June and Friday 13 June 

How is the test used?

• The test results are reported to schools as a total score out of 25 
• Schools use the results to identify pupils who need extra support 
• The Department for Education (DfE) uses the results to track standards over time 

Key Stage 2 SATs

At the end of Year 6, children will sit SATs tests in:

• Reading
• Maths
• Grammar, punctuation and spelling

The tests take place in May and results are released in July as scaled scores ranging from 80 to 120.

• Score of 99 or below means a child may need more support to help them to reach the expected standard
• Score of 100 means the child is working at the expected standard
• Score above 100 means the child is working above the expected standard

School will provide parents and carers a report with the results from the tests as well as teacher assessments in:

For any child that is not at the expected standard, it allows the school to identify where extra support is needed to help that child to achieve the expected standard. 

Key stage 2
Children will take national tests in May when they reach the end of key stage 2.